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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29044155">Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/melancholymango/pseuds/melancholymango'>melancholymango</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Lance (Voltron), Boys In Love, Cop Keith (Voltron), EMT Lance (Voltron), Established Relationship, Felching, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Near Death Experiences, No Character Death, Riding, Rimming, Sleepy Cuddles, Top Keith (Voltron), You're Alive Sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:55:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,081</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29044155</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/melancholymango/pseuds/melancholymango</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re so stupid.” Lance whispers, nosing at his Adam’s apple, pressing a fleeting kiss there. Keith rumbles above him, bringing a hand up to settle in Lance’s hair, pulling him in with more force rather than trying to push him away. Lance sighs, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. “You’re such a brave, selfless stupid man. What did I ever do to deserve you? Sometimes I’m not sure whether I’ve been saddled with a blessing or a curse in loving you, you know that?”</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Lance and Keith reunite after a close-call that leaves them both shaken to their cores.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>414</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/intricatelywoven/gifts">intricatelywoven</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Busting out the Elton lyrics for the title of this bad boy, that's when you KNOW it's about to get mushy, I don't reference Elton for just ANYTHING. Anyway, just wanna reiterate that no one actually dies, Keith just gets caught up in a bank robbery/hostage situation. No violence is described in detail, though guns are mentioned in passing.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to @intricatelywoven for this great idea!! I absolutely love how the story turned out and I hope you guys will as well!!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lance wakes to a warm body plastered against his naked back, soft hands tracing up and down the length of his sides, and a face tucked in close to the nape of his neck. He can literally</span>
  <em>
    <span> feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>Keith’s smile pressed into the top notch of his spine. Before he’s even fully awake, he finds himself mirroring the expression, lips curling into a satisfied grin as he leans back into the casual touches.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>nice</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He doesn’t think he’ll ever tire of this, the novelty of waking up next to the man he loves will never wear off. Even after five years, every morning feels like that first morning when giddiness had swept through the pit of Lance’s stomach upon realizing that Keith had</span>
  <em>
    <span> stayed</span>
  </em>
  <span>, all through the night, and into the morning after. The moment he realized that it wasn’t a hook-up, but instead it was the start of something</span>
  <em>
    <span> wonderful. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something wonderful that they’re still cultivating and growing all these years later.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lance?” Keith whispers, voice as soft as silk, real careful about how he approaches the task of waking his grouchy night shift-working lover. Lance gives a quiet inquiring hum, still clinging to the ruse of sleep, enjoying the gentle treatment far too much to give it up. He’s going to milk it for all it’s worth, even if the truth is he could never be upset with Keith for waking him, no matter</span>
  <em>
    <span> how</span>
  </em>
  <span> overtired he was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm, you’d better have a good reason for waking me up after the night I had.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is missing you not reason enough?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It sure as fuck </span>
  <em>
    <span>isn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Lance says, finally lifting his head from beneath the edge of the blanket and blinking blearily around the room. Immediately, he’s aware of his mistake, as sunlight comes streaming through the open blinds and nearly blinds him. He hisses instinctively, yanking the blanket back over his head, and drops back to the mattress. “The sunlight, Keith… close the curtains, I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>dying</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Vampire.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Keith accuses playfully, pressing a kiss to Lance’s shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re the pale one.” Lance argues, giving him a gentle elbow to the gut. “Hurry up. I’m going blind.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith gives a long-suffering groan of annoyance, but then he’s rolling out of bed and pacing across the room obediently. The very second he has his back turned to Lance, Lance cracks an eye open to watch him walk away. He’s shirtless, wearing only a baggy pair of jogging pants around the house, and Lance would literally face blindness brought on by the sun if it meant getting to admire that fucking</span>
  <em>
    <span> ass</span>
  </em>
  <span> for a second more. Man, does he ever know how to pick ‘em.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s my day off, I was hoping to spend it with my lovely fiancé.” Keith’s tone is conversational as he struggles with the cord for the blinds. They bought them at a dollar store three years ago, they’re long past their prime, and even when they’re closed there are gaps and holes in them. They could really, really use a new set. They’re never gonna buy a new set. “I was thinking... we could go out somewhere nice. Get something to eat. Go to that beach you love so much, the really nice private one that we found that day we were hiking. If we hurry, we’ll be able to watch the sun setting on the beach.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m hearing a lot of words I don’t like.” Lance points out, rolling over. “Go out. Hiking. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hurry</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Sun.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That tired, huh?” Keith chuckles, turning back to him. Where this might have been the start of a fight in all of Lance’s past relationships, he doesn’t even feel the need to brace himself anymore, he’s so blindly confident that Keith will be understanding. And the proof is right there on his smiling face, as he looks at Lance with just as much fondness and adoration as he would have if Lance had agreed to go instead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have to work another backshift tonight, I don’t have a single step of exercise in me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll carry you.” Keith offers, crossing the room again and kneeling next to Lance’s side of the bed. He takes Lance’s hand in his where it’d been hanging limply over the edge of the mattress, even ducks down to kiss across his knuckles, and Lance feels a blush coming on despite all the times he’s done something similar. It’s not</span>
  <em>
    <span> every</span>
  </em>
  <span> day, of course, like any relationship they have their ups and their downs. Plus a whole lot of </span>
  <em>
    <span>mediums </span>
  </em>
  <span>if he’s being honest, where they simply coexist together, fighting to make time for each other where they can around their hectic careers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But god, the moments like this make it all worthwhile. Never in his life has he felt so secure, so certain, that he’s found someone he can spend the rest of his life with and never tire of. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop being cute when I’m being purposely difficult.” Lance huffs, rolling his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re</span>
  <em>
    <span> always</span>
  </em>
  <span> difficult.” Keith tells him, and somehow it manages to sound more like a compliment than an insult when he says it like that, all soft and breathy like the words are too heavy to maneuver his tongue around. Lance stares back at him, smiling so hard his cheeks ache with the strain of it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If that’s the case, then why ask to spend time with my difficult self at all?” Lance counters, gently tugging his hand free and rolling onto his back in the middle of the bed, blankets long gone from his frame and leaving his bare body on display. He makes no move to cover himself. Keith definitely isn’t complaining as he climbs into the bed and curls up close to his side, hand settling</span>
  <em>
    <span> low</span>
  </em>
  <span> on his stomach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, you’re in luck.” Keith tells him, blunt nails scratching idly at the trail of hair that leads between Lance’s legs, fingers sliding</span>
  <em>
    <span> lower still</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Lance sighs happily, eyes falling shut again to savor the touch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Am I</span>
  </em>
  <span>? Why is that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I happen to</span>
  <em>
    <span> like </span>
  </em>
  <span>the challenge.” Keith punctuates his words with a playful nip to Lance’s jaw, his hand shifting between Lance’s legs to grope at his hardening cock. Lance’s breath catches, his hips hitching up into the touch even though he’s nowhere near ready for it yet. Keith teases him, thumb pressed to the tip of his cock, rubbing idly back and forth where he’s most sensitive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, alright, let’s compromise.” Lance says suddenly, hand darting down to grab Keith’s wrist and force him to slow down. Keith quirks an eyebrow at him, dropping his head to Lance’s chest and pressing a kiss there. “We spend time together </span>
  <em>
    <span>without </span>
  </em>
  <span>leaving this comfortable, spacious, scenic bed. There’s so much to do and experience right where we are, Keith, why bother leaving?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then, as if on cue, as if Keith’s body has just been reminded of the fact it wants for something more than sex… his stomach gives a mighty rumble, so baritone it seems to echo through the room. Lance’s quickly filling-out erection is immediately forgotten as he bursts into laughter, shoving Keith away from him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“God, okay, you got me. I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>hungry</span>
  </em>
  <span> and I don’t want to cook.” Keith huffs, collapsing back against the mattress, folding his arms underneath his head. He glances over at Lance, shrugging his shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And here I thought you were being</span>
  <em>
    <span> romantic</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Lance mutters in mock offense, shaking his head ruefully, and all the while Keith chuckles next to him like having a front row to Lance McClain’s dramatics is an honor rather than a nuisance. And fuck, Lance is so madly in love with this bastard. “Alright, new plan.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“New plan?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You go get take-out from that Chinese place we love. Bring it back here, to this bed. We’ll watch the Office while we eat it and it’ll be almost as good as the sunset anyway. And then, if we hurry, we’ll have time to mess around before I have to get ready for work.” Lance offers, then furrows his eyebrows together in consideration. “Hell, maybe I’ll stretch myself while you’re gone, that’ll save us some time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith groans but it isn’t annoyance as much as amused exasperation that colors the noise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I swear, Lance, we’re having a three week honeymoon.” He threatens, but he’s already climbing out of the bed again and venturing into their shared closet to find some clothes. “You work too hard.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you don’t?” Lance counters, staring up at the ceiling in thought. Every now and then he glances toward the closet, anticipating Keith’s return. And when he does come back out, dressed in the most mundane black jeans and black t-shirt, Lance is amazed by how endearing he finds it. “You know, I don’t know what we expected going into this, we literally </span>
  <em>
    <span>met </span>
  </em>
  <span>on a call. Work has been a third wheel for us since day one, you’d think we’d be used to it by now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm, you’d think.” Keith mumbles, pacing over to the bed and snatching his phone and wallet from the table. Lance smiles up at him, expectant, until Keith finally leans down to press a parting kiss to his lips, gentle and lingering like he’s torn about leaving at all. It’s always like this, whether they’re parting for minutes or weeks at a time. Lance winks at him as he moves to leave, grabbing the collar of his shirt and hauling him back in for another, more passionate kiss.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As they pull apart, Lance voices his absentminded train of thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Isn’t it weird to think about how we never would have met if that cat hadn’t knocked over a candle and brought that house up in flame? That coincidence alone is almost enough to make me believe in fate.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“God, I’m so glad no one got seriously hurt. What a morbid getting together story that’d be.” Keith says, shaking his head, reaching back to pull his hair into a ponytail. Lance watches him walk out of the room, then immediately thinks of something else he wants to say and calls after him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, is this the reason you don’t want to adopt another cat? Are you scared we’ll get a pyromaniac next time around?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith’s head pokes back around the door frame and Lance is greeted with the unique sight of him struggling to lace up his boots and keep his eyes glued to Lance in the same instance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not at all, I’m sure the newcomer would be an angel.” Keith grins at him. “It’s Blue and Red that I’m worried about. They would be so jealous about us bringing a kitten into the house that they’d definitely turn to murder, likely with their bare paws, they wouldn’t even need flames on their side.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Lance chuckles, flopping back against the pillows. Keith doesn’t walk back down the hall to leave once he’s finished strapping on his boots though, instead he stays lingering in the doorway, admiring the all access show of Lance lounging naked in their bed. Lance quirks an eyebrow at him and Keith shrugs, shameless as ever. “Hey, we need more nut milk, don’t forget it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How many times do I have to tell you that almonds </span>
  <em>
    <span>aren’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>nuts?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hm, probably about as many times as I’ve had to remind you that you’re lactose intolerant when you insist on eating cheese.” Lance counters easily, and Keith looks like he’s about to argue back, so Lance takes matters into his own hands. He reaches for the bedside table, not even bothering to look as he roots around in the drawer and returns with their bottle of lube. He squeezes some out into the palm of his hand, holding eye contact with Keith all the while. “You’re wasting precious time you could be spending in bed with your lovely fiancé, Keith. Chop chop. Or else I might have to take care of myself.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How is it that you’re still a fucking tease when I’ve had you every way one can possibly have another?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know about</span>
  <em>
    <span> every </span>
  </em>
  <span>way, I personally think there’s still room to get creative.” Lance muses, as he wraps his hand around his cock and gives it a few strokes, gasping at the slick-slide of lube against his skin. Keith’s expression is once again hungry for entirely different reasons, and Lance is sure if he pushed it he could get Keith to forget all about food entirely, but as it is… well, he’s sort-of hungry too. For food.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So instead, he takes it easy, fisting his cock at a torturously slow pace. He doesn’t even bother trying to stretch himself yet, knowing from experience that there’ll be no getting Keith to leave once </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>starts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you.” Keith says finally, heavy with emotion, as he leans against the door frame like he needs the support to stay upright under the weight of those feelings. Lance grins back at him, lounging back against their pillows, and lifts his lube-covered hand to blow a kiss to his fiancé.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you more.” Lance calls, waving him off with a flourish. “Hurry home, sweetheart.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For the next hour, Lance keeps himself busy easily enough. He stretches himself thoroughly with his fingers, until he’s feeling pent-up with a fire burning beneath his skin. His cock is fully hard, has been for long enough that it fucking hurts whenever it starts to go soft again and he has to stroke himself back to the brink of it being enough. He never lets it become enough though, instead he sinks his teeth into his bottom lip and resists the pleasure waiting on him, because he’s determined to share it with Keith.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith who, in Lance’s humble opinion, is taking an inordinately long amount of time to get food and bring it back. Lance is entirely certain at this point that he has no appetite at all, that the moment Keith walks through the door he’s going to throw the bag of takeout aside and climb him like a tree instead. Fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It isn’t long after that that Lance slides his fingers free of the tight clutch of his hole and wipes them on the sheets, snidely thinking to himself that he’ll make Keith wash them after they fuck. He’s feeling particularly petty after being made to wait so long. He’s going to call Keith and give him a piece of his mind, maybe entice him to hurry the hell up while he’s at it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulls out one of his favorite plugs from their bedside drawer and reaches back down between his widespread legs to push it inside of himself, teasing the tip against his rim where it’s already loose and clenching down around the sudden emptiness. It only takes the barest hint of pressure to push it inside of himself, and then he’s gasping as it fits snugly into place, the swell of the base seated directly against his prostate. He feels it with every move he makes, especially as he rolls out of bed to pace across the apartment, naked as the day he was born with his hard cock standing at attention.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It takes him a moment to find where he left his phone that morning when he came stumbling through the front door, exhausted to his very core. Once he finds it, he doesn’t hesitate to call Keith, pacing impatiently up and down the hallway and gritting his teeth when the plug shifts inside him with each step he takes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith doesn’t answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His phone goes</span>
  <em>
    <span> straight</span>
  </em>
  <span> to voicemail.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not the most peculiar thing ever. Sometimes Keith forgets to charge his phone, sometimes he’s caught up in heavy traffic and has to call Lance back a few minutes later. It’s not like Keith can be constantly available at any given second, ready to humor Lance, to comfort him, to cater to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s just, well, he always tries to be. When it’s at all possible, Keith finds a way to be available. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he has been gone an awful long time. Longer than it’s ever taken him to go get food from this particular take-out place before. It’s not that long of a drive, even with heavy traffic, it’s only a couple blocks away. Surely Keith should be almost home by now, regardless of what complications he might have run into on the way…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That’s how Lance finds himself checking his social media, mostly out of curiosity, and finding out that there’s an active shooter situation in their neighborhood. There’s a man with a gun at the local bank, the one that Keith does all of his banking through, and Lance assumes the worst from the very first hasty facebook posts he sees about it. Nausea washes over him like a tsunami.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That’s when Lance’s phone buzzes in his hand with an incoming text. It causes him to jump, startled out of his quickly devolving anxious thoughts. He looks down at his phone and immediately breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing Keith’s name, before taking the time to read a single word of the text.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he reads it, he’s met with the very unique feeling of his heart dropping from its cavity in his chest, instead falling down the length of his body and settling in his feet. The dread that hits him is suffocating.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>From: Keith. 6:30pm.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Lance. I’m at the bank. Perp has a gun. 13 hostages. Txted Shiro, help is on the way. Sit tight. Love you.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance isn’t sure he’s ever experienced</span>
  <em>
    <span> panic </span>
  </em>
  <span>quite like this. He’s been through some awful shit in his life, he’s seen some of the worst the world has to offer, he’s been on the front lines of countless tragedies and disasters working as an EMT. And none of it did a damn thing to prepare him for this feeling. Nothing could. Sitting there, helpless, and knowing that your loved one is in danger and there’s not a damn thing you can do to help… it’s torture worse than anything anyone could physically do to him. It’s his worst nightmare brought to life. It’s the sort-of thing that happens in books, in movies, not to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>God, it was never supposed to happen to </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course he’d known it was a possibility. It was always a possibility, it was just the nature of Keith’s job, every day he put on his uniform and stepped out the door had the very real potential of being his last. It wasn’t something that bothered Lance anymore. In the beginning it had, but with time he’d come to understand it more. Keith was passionate about his work, his adoptive brother was training at the academy to become an officer when Keith had first joined the family, and since he’d only moved up the ranks until eventually becoming Captain of their local force. Between the two of them, Keith and Shiro were determined to make a difference.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith cares about others more than maybe anyone Lance had ever met in his entire life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How much he cares is exactly why he almost didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>make it</span>
  </em>
  <span> as a cop, why Shiro had warned him against it even. The first time Keith confided in Lance about his struggle at the academy, seeing how much corruption was at play within the ranks of the cadets had really opened his eyes to how much more complicated it was than just helping people. He had hoops to jump through, battles to fight within his own sanctuary, and for as long as he stayed a member of the force it was up to him to stay constantly vigilant… vigilant of civilians, yes, but even more vigilant of his fellow officers and himself. Like it or not, he was in a position of power and it was up to </span>
  <em>
    <span>him </span>
  </em>
  <span>to hold himself accountable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It weighs on him. Of course it does. A job like that isn’t one where you can come home and take your hat off and forget about it for the night. Whether he’s wearing the uniform or not, he’s always on the job. All of the trauma, the hard decisions, the close calls… they don’t suddenly disappear from his mind when he clocks out for the night. There are things he’s seen while on the field that haunt him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, all of that being said… of course Lance isn’t naive. He isn’t oblivious to what Keith does or what the risks are, he’s been aware of them from the very moment this thing between them started years ago. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s been there through it all, the highs and the lows, the progression of a soft-spoken uncertain young adult to a confident and brave twenty-five year old man. They’ve grown together. They still have so much growing left to do. And the mere idea that it might be cut short, that the end of the road could come so much sooner than Lance had been preparing for all this time… they haven’t even said “‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>til death do us part</span>
  </em>
  <span>” yet, it’s not allowed to happen </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Not yet. God, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span>, not yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next hour and a half passes as if in slow motion. Lance makes himself sick with worry. He can’t eat, can’t sleep, certainly can’t climb into the shower and get ready for work like usual. He’s paralyzed with the most crippling anxiety he’s ever felt in his life. All he can do is settle in on the couch and hug his knees to his chest, staring dismally at the wall while he waits for any updates.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tries to find comfort where he can, like acknowledging that wherever Shiro is right now, he’s doing everything within his power to make sure that Keith comes away from this unharmed. If there’s anyone in this world that might care about Keith anywhere near as much as Lance does, it’s his brother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When it reaches the point of two hours having passed since he last heard from Keith, Lance pries himself off the couch and tries to channel all of his built-up adrenaline. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do just yet, only that he can’t sit around waiting anymore. He shoves his feet into his shoes, kisses both cats goodbye on the top of their head, and darts out the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He makes it three steps down the stairwell, too antsy to take the elevator, when his phone rings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance answers it before the call can finish it’s first ring, and then he starts speaking before he even has the speaker pressed to his ear, his heartbeat a clumsy, flighty thing in his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Keith?! Is that you? Where are you?! For fuck’s sake, say something already! Tell me you’re alright!” In the back of his mind, Lance is aware of the fact Keith hasn’t had a chance to speak yet, that Lance hasn’t given him a second of edgeway to ease himself into the conversation. It’s just, a part of Lance is scared of what the silence might bring… scared that it won’t be filled. “Seriously, don’t leave me waiting, I’ve been sitting here for two goddamn hours and-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Give me a second to speak!” Keith interjects finally, shouting into the phone so loudly that Lance physically winces away from the speaker, nearly tripping over his own feet and sending himself toppling down the stairs. And even still, he can’t chase the smile from his face, because it’s Keith. It isn’t someone else calling from his recovered phone to deliver horrible news, it’s Keith, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> Keith. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, fuck you! I’ve been waiting hours, don’t make me wait any longer!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m fine, Lance, I’m fine!” Keith shouts right back, meeting him with the same unhinged emotion. Lance has to place a hand on the banister to support himself, the weight off his shoulders so sudden that it leaves him off-balance with the shift of it.  “I promise. Other than a split lip and a shiner on my cheek, I walked away unscathed. I was one of the lucky ones. I tackled him and got the gun from him. I’m</span>
  <em>
    <span> okay</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You tackled an armed man?!” Lance screeches, relief immediately replaced by panic anew. Keith may be speaking to him right now, he may be breathing and laughing and still here, but that doesn’t mean he’s physically okay. Especially not with his stupid hero complex.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance can already hear his upstairs neighbor thumping on the floor to get him to quiet down, but Lance completely ignores the unwanted input. He doesn’t give a flying fuck what anyone has to say about his volume right now, he’d like to see anyone stay calm after going through what he just went through. “You weren’t even wearing a fucking vest, Keith! What were you thinking?! Are you</span>
  <em>
    <span> stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span>?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’d just </span>
  <em>
    <span>shot someone</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Lance, I wasn’t going to let him do it again!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He could have shot </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” And upon voicing it aloud, all clear and concise, straight to the point just like that… Lance feels something in him snap. Everything he’s been swallowing down and holding at bay, in a desperate bid to stay in control of himself in case he was needed somehow, they all come rushing forward at once. His voice breaks. He feels the first tears spill, running in rivulets down his cheeks. He feels weak, like a thing made hollow, his guts and his heart carved out with a spoon. It’s strange, how it can hurt so much, arguably even </span>
  <em>
    <span>more</span>
  </em>
  <span>, now that he knows Keith is </span>
  <em>
    <span>safe</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The horror of the</span>
  <em>
    <span> what-ifs</span>
  </em>
  <span> and the</span>
  <em>
    <span> almosts</span>
  </em>
  <span> is as vivid as reality in his mind. Before he’d been numbed to it all, had been holding his breath and keeping the brunt of the impact at bay, refusing to let himself get lost in his dread and misery when Keith might need his help at any given moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith was so close, so very close, to not coming home this time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lance? Are you okay?” Keith asks then, his voice suddenly void of fight. Instead it’s gentle, like the caress of his fingers across Lance’s cheek in the morning, or the press of his lips kissing the corner of Lance’s smile, or the way he utters his name in moments where it’s just the two of them. And Lance’s wound is ripped open anew, raw and vulnerable and left entirely on display. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time, a sob claws its way up his throat to accompany the tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lance?” Keith asks, urgency seeping into his voice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where can I come see you? Are you at the hospital? The precinct?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not worth missing your shift for, Lance, there are people that need you more than me.” Keith says immediately, quick to turn down the idea, as infuriatingly practical as always even in the aftermath of what was without a doubt a near-death experience. Lance loves him, but god does he hate him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Keith, I don’t know how selfless you think I am, but I’m not fucking offering for your sake.” Lance tells it to him straight, his tone flat. On the other end of the line, Keith grows quiet, until all Lance can hear is his even breathing that’s quickly tripping up, growing heavy and uncalculated, shallow and quick with growing panic. “I need to see you. I need to see that you’re okay. I need to see it with my own eyes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck.” Keith says, rather eloquently. It’s followed by silence and distant chatter, Keith’s voice standing out among many, and then he’s returning to speaking directly into the phone. “I understand. I’ll talk to Captain Shirogane, as soon as I give my statement I should be able to come home.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How long will that take?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ten minutes? Fifteen? Lance, I won’t be long. Just sit tight, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re asking a lot of me, jackass.” Lance mutters.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ooh</span>
  </em>
  <span>, been a while since you called me that one. I was getting used to all the</span>
  <em>
    <span> sweethearts </span>
  </em>
  <span>and the </span>
  <em>
    <span>darlings</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Keith teases, his tone light. And Lance isn’t sure if it’s terribly ill-fitting for the mood or if it’s exactly what the mood calls for, he’s torn in two directions, but he can’t deny that it’s nice to hear the smile in Keith’s voice again. This day must have been hell for him as well, not knowing what to expect from one moment to the next, not only his own life, but also the life of every hostage he’d decided to take on as a responsibility of his own.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe you should</span>
  <em>
    <span> act </span>
  </em>
  <span>like a sweetheart or a darling then, rather than being a fucking</span>
  <em>
    <span> jackass</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Lance teases him right back, giving a breathless little laugh, exhaustion heavy in his voice but his fighting spirit making a show despite it. It isn’t much, but anything that might make this easier for Keith.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you.” Keith blurts, seemingly out of the blue, but Lance thinks he understands despite the bizarre timing of the confession. It speaks volumes that even in a situation like this, they can lean on each other and find the support they need, even when they can’t be physically there for each other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you too.” Lance whispers back, choking it out as his eyes start watering again. “Now go and do all your stupid paperwork, get it over with, I want you home as soon as you possibly can be. You hear me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hear you loud and clear, boss.” Keith chuckles, and even through the phone it sounds surprisingly wet, given that Keith isn’t usually the type to tear up. Lance feels a pang of sympathy in his chest, a longing to be there with him even stronger than before. But he knows how Keith is, knows he doesn’t want anyone trying to fight his battles for him. He’ll get through this alone with a brave face and then come home to Lance in search of comfort and support. And Lance will give it gladly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lance, I’m home!” Keith calls as he steps through the door, tossing his keys into the bowl and shrugging his coat off so quickly that it all blurs together in one languid movement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unfortunately, it doesn’t come anywhere close to the blur Lance moves in as he crosses the room in four long strides, all but pouncing on Keith the moment he’s within his reach. He doesn’t even give him the chance to finish announcing his arrival before gripping his jaw in a bruising hold and pulling him in to an overeager kiss. It’s clumsy and uncoordinated, and it’s the best thing Lance has ever felt, the heat and taste of Keith after worrying he’d never feel it again. He wants to bask in it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he does, for a glorious moment, Keith humors him with the heart-wrenching reunion straight from a drama film. Lance wraps his arms around his neck and clings to him like a lifeline, tongue tracing his lips and begging to be indulged like the rest of him. And Keith gets his hands on Lance’s hips and picks him up like he weighs nothing at all, only to immediately trip over his own feet and send them both toppling into the entryway table. They knock the bowl of keys off the table and it lands with a clatter, Lance’s ass taking its former perch as Keith props him up there and leans heavily into him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance is already pathetically hard, his cock a rigid line against his right thigh, straining against the fabric it’s confined in and already leaking enough pre-cum to start soaking through the thin material of his yoga pants. It isn’t necessarily surprising, considering how long he spent touching himself and meticulously prepping his body for something it has yet to get, he’s still pent-up and in need of relief. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What is surprising, however, is that Keith is in a very similar state.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it’s the leftover adrenaline, maybe he’d been looking forward to rolling in the sheets with Lance this entire time, but there’s no mistaking the outline of his cock where it’s rutting clumsily between Lance’s legs despite the layers of clothing separating them. The temptation is strong and Lance is a weak-willed thing, so he finds himself reaching down to shove a hand unceremoniously under the waistband of Keith’s pants. The moan that bubbles up and escapes him when he feels Keith pulsing in his tight fist isn’t at all exaggerated. Fuck. Lance needs this inside of him like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>an hour ago</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tries to express as much, less in words and more in body language, because right about now there’s nothing that could physically tear him away from Keith. Instead, he starts to run his hand over Keith’s cock from base to tip, toying with the head to get him properly worked up to the point of snapping. He kisses Keith through it, progressing from passionate and deep, to something quick and unforgiving, downright rough in how he nips and sucks at Keith’s lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Only for Keith to wince, a sharp gasp of breath sucked in through his nose loud enough that Lance hears it over his own hammering pulse. Lance all but flinches away from him, plastering his back against the wall, hands clumsily wrenched out of his pants. His eyes dart up and down, checking Keith out for any visible injuries, wondering if there was something he’d missed to somehow hurt him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d better not be keeping things from Lance, things had better not be worse than he let on over the phone because Lance will kill him quicker than his injuries can if that’s the case. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lance, I’m fine! I’m fine!” Keith says, his tone sharp enough to cut through Lance’s faraway thoughts. Lance blinks up at him through his lashes, breathing slowly evening back out. As he watches, blood beads to the surface of Keith’s lip and his tongue darts out to lick it away. “The bastard gave me a split lip, remember? And just now you fucking near bit it off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance blinks owlishly back at him, his thoughts taking a darker turn once again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time when he grapples for handfuls of Keith’s shirt and yanks him in, it isn’t to crash their mouths together in a heated kiss. It’s to tuck his face into the curve of Keith’s neck and inhale deeply, trying to memorize every single part of this moment, this feeling. He’s greedy with it, hands sliding under Keith’s shirt and pushing it up so he can follow the lines of his body with his fingers, mapping them out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re so stupid.” Lance whispers, nosing at his Adam’s apple, pressing a fleeting kiss there. Keith rumbles above him, bringing a hand up to settle in Lance’s hair, pulling him in with more force rather than trying to push him away. Lance sighs, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. “You’re such a brave, selfless stupid man. What did I ever do to deserve you? Sometimes I’m not sure whether I’ve been saddled with a blessing or a curse in loving you, you know that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith pulls him back by the grip on his hair and Lance panics for a split second, not anywhere near ready to separate from him. But Keith doesn’t go anywhere, he simply presses their foreheads together instead so they can look at each other directly. Keith’s eyes are a deep and tired purple, with a dark circle blooming around one that could definitely give Lance’s night-shift circles a run for their money with its intensity. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s something about that sight that has Lance finally tearing up past the point of being able to stop himself. Fat tears well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks, and all the while Keith holds him there by his jaw, watching the entire display with a bittersweet sympathetic look in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Keith tells him, urgency slipping onto his voice. “It’s okay, baby, I’m</span>
  <em>
    <span> okay</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You big fat jerk, I was so worried one of the last things I ever said to you was gonna be the phrase “nut milk”! Do you have any idea how stupid I would have felt then?!” Lance is headed down a dark train of thought again, where reality bleeds into every worst case scenario his panicked mind had been able to dream up. It hurts to think about, but he can’t stop. He’s mesmerized by what a close call this was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look at me.” Keith says, trying in vain to draw his attention away from the cavern of dark inside his chest that’s quickly threatening to swallow him whole the more he thinks about it. It’s like quicksand and the more he struggles against it, the more he feels himself slipping further.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t!” Lance cries out brokenly, clinging to him as sobs wrack his frame. Keith pulls him in tight to his body and then gets his hands underneath him again, picking him up and carrying him through the apartment. And Lance stays exactly where he is, dead-weight making no effort to help, until Keith drops him onto their shared bed with a gentleness that they’d never express normally.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance is still fully dressed and yet he feels </span>
  <em>
    <span>bare</span>
  </em>
  <span>, sprawled out in the bed with tears staining his cheeks while Keith stares down at him. When Keith turns away and starts to shrug his shirt over his head, Lance sheepishly averts his eyes, feeling uncharacteristically shy. Without even looking back at him, Keith picks up their conversation from before, as if Lance is in any place to talk about it yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I risk my life every single day at work. You know this. We’ve had this conversation so many times.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You weren’t</span>
  <em>
    <span> at</span>
  </em>
  <span> work.” Lance points out, his tone maybe a little more bitter than it should be. He just can’t lay here and listen to Keith try and justify this. “You weren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>supposed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be the hero. You were just an unlucky guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is it so much to ask that some of the time you just allow yourself to be a person, with your own best interests at heart? Or, if not your own, than mine?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t mean that.” Keith points out, turning to look at him. Lance doesn’t say a word, keeps his lips stubbornly pressed together, keeps sniffling as he fights off the next wave of tears. It catches him off guard completely when Keith falls into the bed a moment later, legs widespread on either side of Lance’s hips, his hair falling in a curtain around them as he leans in close enough for Lance to feel his warm breath hitting his lips. “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>that I’m passionate about helping others. Probably because</span>
  <em>
    <span> you’re </span>
  </em>
  <span>passionate about it too. It’s what brought us together in the first place.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance holds his glare for a long moment before sighing and giving in, pressing their lips together in a sweet, lingering embrace. He’s gentle about it this time, mindful of Keith’s injury as he cups his cheek, fingers running over the outline of his black eye as they lose themselves in each other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When they pull back, Keith is wearing an infuriatingly smug smile, like he knows he’s already proven his point. Lance huffs. “Fuck off. Stop being</span>
  <em>
    <span> right.</span>
  </em>
  <span> You’re not allowed to be calm and responsible when I’m flying off the handle, you’re supposed to be the impulsive and chaotic one.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, angel.” Keith assures him, blatantly placating, but Lance eats it up anyway. Now that they’re separated, Lance can really </span>
  <em>
    <span>watch</span>
  </em>
  <span> as his fingers trace Keith’s bruise, the color seemingly growing darker by the minute. Lance pouts in sympathy, and is on the brink of suggesting he gets some ice to put on it, when Keith gives a very straightforward roll of his hips against Lance’s. Where Lance’s erection had all but disappeared with the heavy emotions, Keith’s cock is still hard as a rock where it rubs up against Lance’s thigh in search of friction. Keith grins down at him, probably aiming for sexy and alluring, but landing somewhere closer to needy and hopeful. “Let me make it up to you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You</span>
  <em>
    <span> would </span>
  </em>
  <span>be still horny even after everything you went through today.” Lance jokes, rolling his eyes, but his actions contrast his words as he clumsily tugs his shirt over his head. Keith is quick to get with the picture, pushing off of him and getting to his feet to start tugging his jeans and underwear down his legs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, have you seen yourself? Can you really blame me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t believe you were being held at gunpoint and I was here with my fingers in my ass.” Lance laughs in disbelief, lifting his legs so Keith can strip off the rest of his clothes for him. He feels the slightest bit confused at the hitch in Keith’s breath, given he’s seen this all a hundred time’s over now. The realization that he still has a plug in is belated, given it’d hardly been at the forefront of his mind this whole time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Besides, after wearing it for so long, it was starting to feel comfortable. He thinks being empty at this point would feel foreign and unsettling… Thankfully, he doesn’t have to worry about that. Keith will make sure he’s properly filled one way or another, he’s sure of that much based on the hungry look in his eyes alone. It brings a teasing grin to his face and Keith mirrors it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He fits his hands on Lance’s inner thighs and pushes them up and open, until Lance is bent over himself with his ass entirely on display. Keith fits his fingers around the base of the plug and gives it a light tug, just enough for Lance to feel the slight stretch against his rim, before shoving it back into place with enough force to jolt Lance backward on the bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck, baby, hurry up. I need you.” Lance pleads, batting his eyelashes up at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith steps away from him rather than closer and Lance groans in annoyance, flopping back against the bed with a pout on his lips. Meanwhile, Keith walks to their bedside table and returns with the lube in hand, intent darkening all of his features as he reaches back between Lance’s legs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time, he doesn’t tease, he simply eases the plug out of the tight hold of Lance’s body and tosses it aside into the sheets. When Lance tries to unfold from the bent position he’s in to draw Keith in like a moth to a flame, Keith places a hand on his thigh and pins him where he is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance is forced to stay like that, legs spread wide and entirely on display, his needy hole clenching around nothing as it adjusts to the loss of the plug. When Keith lifts the lube bottle, Lance already knows what’s coming, but still gives a shrill whine of discomfort when Keith pops open the cap and lets it dribble directly into and over Lance’s fluttering rim. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shoves two fingers in at once and Lance squeezes his eyes shut, basking in the intrusion, more than ready for it after how he’d worked himself over so thoroughly earlier. Plus, it’s a welcome relief from the cool temperature of the lube, as Keith’s fingers thrust roughly in and out of his hole, testing how ready he is, the friction heating him up from the inside out. Lance whimpers his way through it, trying and failing to keep himself quiet by biting at his lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If nothing else, Keith looks decidedly amused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This? This is exactly why I couldn’t let the bastard kill me. The stakes were too high, I had to make it back to you because I wasn’t about to die when this was waiting for me at home. Pretty sure I had a half-chub in my pants the entire time, the perp probably thought I had some kind-of gun kink.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not fucking funny.” Lance complains, because it really isn’t. Or rather, it shouldn’t be, but he can’t deny that it helps a little bit to make light of it. It shifts the atmosphere between them from something heavy and emotional to something more like their usual sex banter, stupid and giddy with how ecited they are to lose themselves in each other’s bodies.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, come on, it’s a little funny.” Keith argues, finally pulling his fingers free and stepping closer to press the tip of his cock to Lance’s rim. He takes himself in hand and pumps his cock a few times, getting himself nice and hard, rubbing the head of his cock through the mess of lube between Lance’s ass cheeks and gritting his teeth against the sensation. “Fuck. I’m not gonna last long. Do we need a-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No condom, I wanna</span>
  <em>
    <span> feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>you.” Lance insists, reaching a foot out to kick at him impatiently. Keith grabs his ankle in a tight grip to hold him at bay, eyebrows raised. Slowly, Keith’s hands slide up the length of his legs, until he’s gripping them in a secure hold on either side of his hips. He steps into the space between them and though it’s not quite what Lance is after, it’s closer to it. “Hurry up! I’ve waited long enough, now get inside me already. I know you want to.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Demanding.” Keith huffs, applying more force and letting the flared head of his cock push inside of Lance and catch just inside his rim before pulling back out completely. And Lance glares up at him, silently fuming with rage, but Keith has him pinned in place now so his death state is about as much as he can do to get back at him. Keith looks entirely too pleased. “Look at you with that pretty little pout of yours, baby. So desperate for it, aren’t you? How did I ever get so lucky?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re gonna get a lot</span>
  <em>
    <span> less </span>
  </em>
  <span>lucky if you don’t fuck off and </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck me</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, alright.” Keith chuckles, fondness written all across his features. This time when he applies pressure to sink his cock into Lance, he doesn’t retreat. He keeps feeding it into his willing body, inch after inch, and Lance arches into it impatiently in an effort to take it all at once. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck. That’s it. Just like that.” He pants, squirming uselessly against the bed while Keith leans over him, his feet still firmly planted on the ground. So when he finally bottoms out and pulls back for that first delicious thrust back into Lance’s heat, there’s strength behind it. His hipbones collide with the meat of Lance’s ass, cock slamming home and filling Lance exactly how he needed it. He throws his head back, hands sliding across the sheets in search of purchase. “Don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> let me take this for granted again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance is immediately aware that he’s said the wrong thing when Keith slows instead of speeding up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And when he stops entirely, hips stilling mid-thrust, Lance knows he isn’t gonna get away with it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Lance</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Keith says, his voice low and serious, entirely unfitting for the act. Lance peers up at him through the mess of his bangs, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat. He hadn’t wanted to think about it, let alone have this talk. “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>weren’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>taking me for granted, you were tired. It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>okay</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know.” Lance sighs, but Keith doesn’t seem convinced by that alone, so he sheepishly forces himself to continue. “I have my own life and it won’t stop for you, you wouldn’t want it to, and truth be told, I wouldn’t really want it to either. Sure, I could quit my job and spend the rest of my life catering to you, but I’d only grow to resent you. We’re our own people, bla bla bla. All I’m saying is that I want to make the most of the time we </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> have together, I want to do everything I can with you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith seems to consider him for a long moment, leaning back to rake his eyes over Lance’s naked and trembling form, trying in vain to push up into Keith and sink his cock further inside. Keith relents, out of pity or understanding Lance isn’t sure. Either way, he thrusts back into Lance, knocking the breath from his lungs with how unexpected it is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s why we’re getting married, is it not? To spend the rest of our lives together?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That doesn’t change the fact I still have to share you with the rest of the world.” Lance points out, finally managing to squirm free of Keith’s hold enough to lift his legs up and wrap them around Keith’s middle. Like this, he’s able to pull Keith in, legs hugging him tight and keeping him on track as he starts to fuck into Lance’s body at a slow, steady pace. “Mm, yes, just like that. You’re so much better than any fucking toy could be.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you saying, then? About sharing me?” Keith asks, hips slowing once more, infuriatingly hung-up on Lance’s throwaway comments. Lance groans in annoyance, digging his heels into the backs of Keith’s thighs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just that I think I’d like to have you all to myself for a little while. For a </span>
  <em>
    <span>long </span>
  </em>
  <span>while.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t tell me, is this a yes to my three week honeymoon idea?” Keith asks, entirely too hopeful.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance pauses in his useless writhing to look up at him through lidded eyes, taking a moment to truly admire the giddy, lopsided grin he’s wearing. Like Lance has just handed him the moon. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first time Keith brought up having a honeymoon that long, Lance had turned him down outright. It wasn’t realistic, they had too much weighing on and waiting on them back here. Shiro wouldn’t want to watch the cats that long, and then there was the matter of their jobs giving them that much time off, and not to mention the cost of a vacation that long… it’d put a serious dent in their savings, that’s for sure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And somehow, though Lance is the one that actually gives a shit about luxury brands and classy food, his expensive tastes contradict with his frugal attitude. While Keith, who doesn’t give a flying shit about buying or owning nice things, oftentimes spends his money impulsively to bring home presents for Lance or for them as a couple. Everything from outrageous sex toys to designer clothing, Lance really isn’t sure where Keith’s impulsive money-spending habits will take him next.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, well, the more Lance looks into his wide, invested eyes… the more obvious it is that this whole honeymoon thing isn’t an impulsive decision at all. Keith may have made light of it, turned it into a joke because he knew Lance wouldn’t be on board, but it’s clear it matters to him more than that. He wants this, and he hardly ever wants for anything. What kind of monster would Lance be to deny him?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Besides, more time alone with Keith is hardly a travesty for him. He’ll love every second.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Make it four weeks.” Lance announces boldly, stretching his arms out above his head, arching his back up off the bed in a clean bow. Keith’s heavy gaze follows every movement, his hips shifting minutely and forcing his cock deeper inside of Lance. “Our jobs will still be there waiting for us when we come back, it’s not a crime to take time for ourselves. It’s not selfish.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never thought I’d hear you say that.” Keith mutters, and this time he thrusts into Lance intentionally, finally starting a steady pace without any interruptions. He rocks into Lance with slow, calculated rolls of his hips and Lance pushes back into every single one. He wants to take him deeper, wants more in general, wants to feel it. As much as he loves Keith, and he understands why Keith might think he needs it slow and loving after everything they went through today, that’s just not the case. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wants it lovingly, sure, but he also wants it </span>
  <em>
    <span>fast</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He wants Keith to fuck him hard, to show him just how </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive </span>
  </em>
  <span>he is, to make him forget about all the bad by fucking him into a sloppy, senseless mess. He’s done it before, Lance knows he has it in him, he just needs to find a way to bring it out of him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Baby.” Lance purrs, low and sensual, bringing one of his hands down between his legs to make a show of pumping his cock in time with Keith’s slow pace. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm?” Keith’s eyes track his every movement, something hungry in the way he drinks Lance in, like he wants more nearly as badly as Lance does. He’s already flushed and sweaty, hair falling in his eyes, and though he certainly looks flustered… Lance wants to see him </span>
  <em>
    <span>ruined</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Wants to see him come undone, lose himself to the frenzy of their bodies moving together, sweat and heat building between them until it’s smothering in its intensity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance needs it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I make a request?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course. Anything. Anything you want, I’ll give it to you.” Keith answers, driving into him with a particularly harsh thrust, forcing him to take the entire length of his cock in one quick snap of his hips. Lance cries out, teeth sinking into his bottom lip, and Keith grins smugly down at him. Lance can’t help but get the feeling that Keith already knows </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly </span>
  </em>
  <span>what he’s going to ask him for. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck me like you used to when we first met? Like that time, when you took me against the wall?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm, you always bring that night up. Don’t tell me I’ve yet to live up to the memory?” Keith jokes, a fake pout on his lips that would be adorable if it wasn’t also harboring some less than innocent intentions. He leans down over Lance and it changes the angle his cock is rutting inside of him, has the head rubbing up against Lance’s prostate on each thrust in and wrenching broken, pleading noises from his throat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You do, baby, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I just need to feel you, need to forget about everything else for a while.” Lance insists, throwing his head back and letting Keith have his wicked way with him. Keith keeps fucking him through it, though already he seems to be losing some of the strength behind his brutal thrusts. He’s visibly struggling, flushed and sweaty, tired out after such a long stressful day. Lance gets it, he does.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve got five years and twenty extra pounds on since then. As much as it kills me, I don’t know if I’m up to the task of holding you up the entire time we fuck anymore, darling.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then I’ll ride you.” Lance blurts on an impulse, because he’s impatient and he needs it hard, and Keith doesn’t seem to have the energy to really</span>
  <em>
    <span> give it to him</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It seems to be the right thing to say anyway, if the way Keith’s cock twitches inside of him is indicative. The steady pace he’d set for himself stutters and he freezes still buried to the hilt inside of Lance’s tight heat, like he can’t trust himself not to finish too soon if he doesn’t. Lance smirks up at him, entirely too pleased. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As much as it kills him, he shifts away from Keith and moves across the bed until Keith’s cock slips out of him. He pats the mattress then and Keith scrambles to lay down, earning a lapful of Lance’s naked body for his troubles. Lance settles down on his thighs like he owns them, like he’s settling into a throne he’s earned for himself. He reaches behind himself and pumps Keith’s cock, rubbing his thumb through the mess of pre-cum beading up at the tip. “You want that, baby? Want me to take your cock for myself, show you how badly I want it? How much I</span>
  <em>
    <span> need</span>
  </em>
  <span> it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck.” Keith groans, hips arching off the bed in an effort to sink his cock into Lance again. He moves to grab Lance’s hips to steady him and Lance tuts knowingly, grabbing his wrists and pinning them to the bed above his head. The look Keith gives him is wide-eyed and wanting, like he’s aware of just how far he’s in over his head, and somehow he’s still loving every second.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s right, you’re gonna stay right here and let me use you as I please.” Lance smirks. He makes sure Keith isn’t going to move and then reaches back again, grabbing hold of Keith’s cock and holding himself up on his knees so he can tease the head at his rim. Slowly, but surely, he sinks down and takes it back inside of himself in one languid roll of his hips. The corners of his lips quirk, a breathy laugh filling the otherwise quiet room. “I may have to share the rest of you with the world, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span>? This is</span>
  <em>
    <span> all mine</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jesus.” Keith mutters, but he doesn’t get the chance to express anything more before Lance is picking himself back up and dropping down again, riding Keith in earnest. It’s better from this angle, somehow, has Keith’s cock sitting inside of him just right. He reaches up to play with his own chest, tweaking his nipples while he bounces in Keith’s lap, his cock bobbing with each shuddering movement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Below him, Keith looks </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrecked</span>
  </em>
  <span> right from the start. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You close, sweetheart?” Lance calls, voice soft and alluring, contrasting the harsh lift and drop of his hips as he uses Keith’s cock exactly how he sees fit. Below him, Keith is gritting his teeth hard against the onslaught of pleasure, eyes squeezed tightly closed, eyebrows knit together so tightly that the expression would almost look pained to the untrained eye. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As it is, Lance considers himself highly trained in matters of Keith, and he recognizes that face anywhere. That “</span>
  <em>
    <span>desperately trying to hold onto his control because he doesn’t wanna finish too soon, but slowly losing ground anyway</span>
  </em>
  <span>” face.  Lance lives for it, eats that shit up. He loves watching Keith struggle, too caught in pleasure to hold himself back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Keith finally answers, his voice is low and strained, like he’s speaking through his teeth even then.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>close</span>
  </em>
  <span>. How could</span>
  <em>
    <span> anyone</span>
  </em>
  <span> last when you’re riding them like</span>
  <em>
    <span> this</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Keith groans, like it’s miserable, like Lance is the cruelest mistress he’s ever known for wringing an orgasm out of him so efficiently. Lance can’t help it that he’s a pro in matters of Keith. He’s brought him to his end so many times now, he thinks he could probably do it blindfolded with all of his limbs bound behind his back, and a gag in his mouth for good measure. He could get creative, he’s sure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe I don’t</span>
  <em>
    <span> want </span>
  </em>
  <span>you to last… maybe I</span>
  <em>
    <span> want</span>
  </em>
  <span> you to make a mess of me.” Lance suggests, winking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And from that point on, he sees the shift in Keith’s expression. And though he doesn’t look quite ready to give up yet, it’s clear that he knows he’s fighting a losing battle, that Lance has played his hand and outdone anything Keith might be capable of to resist him with. Like it or not, Lance is making him come.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want it, baby, wanna feel you come inside me and fill me up.” Lance prompts, bouncing eagerly on his cock, hands spanning up and down Keith’s chest as if to coax him into it. He pushes them further and further up, until they’re wrapping loosely around his neck, ducking behind his head and winding fingers through the short hair at the base of his skull. He gives it a playful tug, not enough to hurt even, but enough to have Keith’s hips jolting off the bed and sinking into him that much harder. “This is all yours, take what you need from me, it’s all for you. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith doesn’t last much longer after that, a handful of thrusts later and he’s spilling inside of Lance with a cry of his name. Lance feels it, the surge of sticky warmth, the way Keith’s cock pulses and twitches where it’s buried to the hilt inside of him. It’s obscene, he’s sure Keith has never come this much before, and he’s definitely never looked this blindsided by it. Keith is staring up at him like he’s hung the stars in the sky specifically for him, clinging weakly to Lance’s hips, eyes wide and full of love.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, Keith comes back down to Earth enough to glare up at Lance where he’s feigning innocence astride him, like he hasn’t been rocking his hips impatiently back and forth, giving Keith no time to come down from it at all before demanding more. He can’t help it, he’s so very close, and he desperately wants to come before Keith gets too soft to fuck him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if sensing this train of thought, Keith springs up into a sitting position and then rolls them to the side, tackling Lance down to the mattress and then pinning him there. Lance is sprawled out clumsily on his back with Keith on top of him, settled between his legs with his softening cock still deep inside of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shifts his hips once as if to test for a reaction and Lance keens in a way he’s not entirely proud of.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith chuckles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re</span>
  <em>
    <span> dirty</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you know that?” Keith growls out, ducking his head forward and burying his face into the hollow of Lance’s throat, baring his teeth against the soft skin there. He bites and nips at the space just below Lance’s jaw, before finally closing his lips around it and sucking a bruise into the space. Normally, Lance would complain, but right now he wants to</span>
  <em>
    <span> feel it</span>
  </em>
  <span>, wants to wear Keith’s marks with pride.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tilts his head back, giving Keith more room to work, and Keith groans. His hips stutter inside of Lance and earn a sharp cry in answer, and then they both freeze. Slowly, Keith lifts his head, eyes dark with something sadistic shining just beneath the surface. This time, when he thrusts into Lance again with his softening cock, it’s entirely intentionally. The slick feeling of warm cum inside of him aids each thrust, even as it slips out around Keith’s cock and runs down the cleft of his ass in thick globs. Fuck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance lifts his hips, trying to keep it inside, but the angle has Keith’s cockhead bullying his prostate in a way that has his entire body tensing up. It definitely doesn’t go unnoticed by Keith. He’s positively grinning, ear-to-ear, as he picks up his pace and starts to fuck Lance in quick, jackrabbit thrusts. In and out so quickly that Lance can’t brace himself for either, skin slapping skin, the bed rocking back against the wall as Keith gives it to him as hard as he’d been hoping for all along. “Such a filthy, gorgeous man and you’re all mine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck, Keith.” Lance groans, bringing his legs up and wrapping them around Keith’s waist, not that he needs to when Keith clearly has no intention of going anywhere. He’s dedicated, as he fucks into Lance through his no-doubt unbearably overstimulated post-orgasm state.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It feels like there’s more cum dripping from his ass into the sheets each time Keith pulls back, until Lance is certain there will be a puddle beneath him when they’re done. It’s messy and obscene, Keith pulling out only to gather his own cum with his cockhead and force it back inside of Lance’s body so not a drop goes to waste. Lance’s own cock is red and angry against his abdomen, balls drawn up tight as he grows closer and closer to coming all over himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Listen to that. You can </span>
  <em>
    <span>hear </span>
  </em>
  <span>how good I’m fucking you, you’re so sloppy inside now.” Keith whistles low under his breath. Satisfied with the amount of cum he’s managed to stuff back into Lance’s body, he goes back to fucking him in short, staccato snaps of his hips. Lance takes every one eagerly. “That’s it, just like that, arch up into it. Desperate for it, aren’t you? I wanna watch you come apart on my cock.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance throws his head back into the pillows, cock drooling where it’s pressed between their bodies, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ahh, hnn, fuck! Coming, I’m-” Lance doesn’t finish the sentence before he’s interrupting himself with another moan, this one deeper and guttural compared to all the others, torn out of him before he was entirely prepared for it. He comes </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard</span>
  </em>
  <span>, harder than he has in a while, his entire body seizing up against the pleasure that hits him like an oncoming train.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s it, beautiful, just like that.” Keith coaxes him through it, hips still shifting inside of him and chasing the sensation even as he grows nearly entirely soft inside of Lance’s body. He grabs hold of Lance’s cock where it’s shooting a load across his tan skin, but doesn’t even stroke him through it properly, just rubs his thumb back and forth just below the head. It’s just shy of being enough, and it drives Lance fucking crazy, until he swears he’s coming for far longer because of the lack of satisfaction it brings. The sheer amount of white streaked across his own stomach by the time he’s done supports the theory, he’s sure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d be content to immediately drift off after that, exhausted as he is, but Keith starts snickering above him and Lance can’t exactly let that go unchecked. He cracks open an eye to look up at Keith, finding his amusement contagious even before he knows the source of it. “You’re holding me so tight, I can’t even pull back out, baby. You’re gripping me like a vise, it almost</span>
  <em>
    <span> hurts.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Good</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Don’t want you going anywhere yet.” Lance says, matter-of-factly. He closes his eyes again, wraps his legs around Keith’s hips that much tighter and pulls him in closer rather than letting him try to pull away. “Let me bask in this. I’m not ready to let it go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not even if I offer to clean up the mess I made?” Keith asks quietly, shyly, as he presses a kiss to Lance’s chest and runs his fingers idly through the cum painted across his skin. Lance groans long and hard, lifting his head from the pillows begrudgingly because he knows he isn’t gonna wanna miss this. And it’s immediately confirmed when he watches Keith lift his fingers to his lips, licking and lapping his tongue between them to gather all of Lance’s cum. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance glares at him, before slowly unwrapping his legs and letting Keith pull out of him. The trail of cum that follows is embarrassing, but Keith doesn’t comment despite the way his eyes follow the movement, expression sharp and predatory. Lance looks up at him, expectation burning through him hotter than his embarrassed blush. “That’s what I thought. Roll over.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Be gentle.” Lance warns in a mumble, rolling onto his hands and knees and arching his ass up into the air for Keith to do what he will. He starts with his fingers, slipping his blunt thumb into Lance’s hole and testing how stretched he is, tugging gently on his rim. Lance kicks out and cries when Keith slips two more fingers into him, three broad fingers working him open and playing with the mess of cum inside of him. He squirms away from it, scrambling up the bed on all-fours. “F-Fuck. I said go easy! I can’t come again, you bitch, don’t even try it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, what happened to not taking a moment with me for granted? Get back here and let me dote on you, my lovely fiancé.” Keith jokes, grabbing hold of Lance’s ankle and yanking him back down the bed with a rare show of his genuine strength. And Lance goes willingly, because he’s terribly whipped, and the truth is he’s just greedy enough to want another orgasm whether he can physically handle it or not.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, he’s going to complain the whole way through it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith ducks down to swipe his tongue across Lance’s rim, where it’s puffy and used, no doubt slick with the frothy cum Keith has been fucking into him for the better part of five minutes now. Lance whimpers, trying to squirm away again, only to have Keith pull him back into place and hold him there. Lance is forced to take it when Keith ventures further, applying force behind the tip of his tongue until it sinks into Lance’s hole and stretches him around the slick intrusion. Lance whines, high and reedy, his body confused with how short-lived his relief was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shh, you’re okay.” Keith whispers, pulling back and pressing a kiss to the base of his spine.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s</span>
  <em>
    <span> too much</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Lance chokes out, and it sounds suspiciously like a sob even to his own ears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s the way you like it.” Keith reminds him, landing a playful smack to the meat of his thigh. And Lance can’t really argue with that, though he wishes he could. As it is, it’s all he can do to hold himself up when Keith brings a hand between his legs and starts to work his cock. At first he just palms at him, cupping and squeezing his balls, lapping idly at his hole without going so far as to push his tongue inside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon enough, Lance feels his cock filling out again in Keith’s palm, despite all his reservations. At which point he starts to grow antsy, pushing backward in an attempt to get Keith to go back to eating him out how he needs it. “That’s it, just like that, fuck my fist while I take you apart with my tongue.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hate you. I hate you so much.” Lance blurts, while his cock drools pre-cum into the center of Keith’s palm as if following orders. Like it or not, any satisfaction he’d gotten from his first orgasm is now forgotten as he starts the climb anew, a second itch beneath his skin demanding to be scratched.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Such ugly words for such a pretty boy.” Keith singsongs, before diving right back in and forcing his tongue deep inside of Lance, ignoring the quivering and clenching of muscles around the intrusion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Gonna come</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Lance chokes out, before promptly shoving his fist back into his mouth and biting down on it, hard, to quiet himself down. It’s really a useless effort, the noises he makes from that point on might be muffled, but they’re still unmistakably sexual in nature. Each moan torn from his throat, each cry of Keith’s name when he flicks his tongue inside of him just right or pauses to tease his rim with his teeth. Lance is pathetically transparent, he knows he leaves nothing to imagination for their poor neighbors, but he can’t help it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith fucks him with his tongue like it’s his damn job, he’s so infuriatingly thorough and dedicated to taking him apart, to making him lose his mind for it. It always goes like this the moment Keith gets his mouth on him, all bets are off, Lance loses control and becomes the blushing hair-trigger teenager he was during his first few sexual encounters that took place years before meeting Keith. Men (and women!) have rimmed him before, but none have done it </span>
  <em>
    <span>like Keith</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s committed to it, like he wants to lick up and swallow down every drop of his own seed where he’d spent inside of Lance’s tight ass. And no matter how Lance squirms or thrashes in oversensitivity, no matter how he cries and begs for it to stop and continue alike, Keith doesn’t relent until Lance is buckling forward and coming all over himself in thick, white streaks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tonight is no exception, as Keith spreads him wider and spears him open on his tongue, lapping come from his ass like it’s a goddamn delicacy. And if Lance were a better man, he’d probably feel at least a little bit sheepish about it, maybe downright embarrassed. As it is, all he feels is pleasure, and it’s the muggy kind that clouds his thoughts and clings to every inch of his skin. That steady, heavy build that burns under his skin like embers striking back up into flame. “Fuck, Keith, I’m gonna come again</span>
  <em>
    <span> already</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s the goal.” Keith says, pausing to spit directly onto his hole where it’s fluttering needily, already missing his skilled mouth working against it. Fuck. On second thought, maybe Lance does feel the slightest bit embarrassed, but only when Keith stops. The obvious answer is to</span>
  <em>
    <span> never let him stop.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, yes, yes! Just like that, right there, don’t stop, d-” Lance plans to vocalize more than that, but then Keith shoves two fingers into his body alongside his tongue, and Lance forgets how to speak for a moment. Instead, his jaw drops and a long keening noise slips past his lips before he could even begin to think about muffling himself. Behind him, he thinks he feels Keith chuckle where his face is still pressed between Lance’s ass cheeks, tongue still working between his fingers giving long, broad laps to his core.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Lance’s second orgasm hits him, it takes him by surprise in its suddenness and its intensity. One second he’s walking along the tantalizing edge of pleasure, cock straining where Keith’s hand is stroking it expertly, and then the next he’s hurtling into it and feeling terribly underprepared. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s all he can do to remember to breathe, let alone keep himself quiet or still, as he shudders and shakes apart on Keith’s fingers and tongue. He presses back into it and Keith meets him enthusiastically, crooking his fingers to apply even more pressure to his prostate, more weak juts of cum spilling from his cock and leaking out across Keith’s knuckles while he rapidly works him in his fist. Fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a long, long moment Lance just stays exactly where he is. He holds the uncomfortable position and gasps for breath, feeling indescribably faraway from the moment, like he’s floated away entirely. He doesn’t even have it in him to react when Keith’s fingers slip free of his ass and he pulls his face back, kissing up the line of Lance’s arched spine before eventually collapsing next to him on the mattress.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another minute or two passes before Lance tentatively lowers himself down to the bed, confident this shaking knees won’t give out beneath him and drop him directly into the wet stain beneath his body.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, he lays down on the other side of it, on the very opposite side of the bed from Keith. They both curl up on their respective sides to stare at each other, heads resting on either pillow. Lance is still coming down, struggling to find words, but Keith looks more than happy to fill in for him for once.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re so pretty after sex. You get that blush across your nose.” Keith says, voice impossibly soft, even with how breathless he is after giving Lance the tongue-fucking of his goddamn life. Lance narrows his eyes at him, reaching out to playfully shove him away. He’s not sure how, but Keith is definitely teasing him, is maybe bragging about his own sexual prowess or something.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck off. Stop looking at me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never.” Keith tells him, sticking his tongue out. “I wanna admire my beautiful fiancé.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Someone’s feeling sappy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am.” Keith confirms, without a hint of hesitation. It throws Lance for a loop for all of a second before he adjusts to the situation and decides to be thankful rather than confused. It isn’t often that Keith is quite so openly adoring and flattering. He’s always clear about his feelings, but he doesn’t usually shower Lance in affection quite like this, with compliments and praise. Lance can’t help but feel greedy for it, eating up every fucking word. “There you are, look at that smile. You’re gorgeous, what did I ever do to deserve someone like you? Fuck, come here, I wanna hold you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sweaty and covered in cum.” Lance argues weakly, but even as he says it he’s already picking himself up onto his hands and knees and fumbling his way across the mattress. He collapses onto Keith the moment he’s within reach, nuzzling his sweaty face into the hollow of his throat, peppering kisses across his pale skin. Keith wraps his arms around him and pulls him in tighter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t have you any other way.” He replies, kissing Lance’s temple. They stay like that for a long while, enjoying the quiet while they mull over their thoughts, alone but together at once. Eventually, Lance feels the aftersex haze fading, replaced by that same building anxious feeling in his chest. And when that happens, he doesn’t even have to say anything, he just snuggles into Keith’s chest further and his lovely fiancé instantly knows what to do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Words of comfort spill from his lips, tired but heartfelt, and Lance basks in every one. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll find my way back to you, no matter what, nothing is gonna take me from this come hell or highwater. You’re gonna be stuck with me until we’re both old and grey, sitting in matching rocking chairs on our front deck of our countryside home. I’ll be here with you for as long as you want me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell me more about this future you have planned for us.” Lance prompts, settling in with his head on Keith’s chest, using him as a pillow. He runs his fingers up and down the length of Keith’s chest, tracing through short untrimmed chest hair, a bittersweet smile on his lips. “I wasn’t aware you had plans.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never used to, not ‘til I met you.” Keith mumbles, quiet enough that Lance wouldn’ve missed it if it weren’t for how close they’re cuddled into each other. It takes him a moment to collect his thoughts, or maybe to debate whether he wants to share at all, but eventually Keith continues on his own without any prompting. “Once we’re out of this shitty apartment, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>might</span>
  </em>
  <span> entertain the idea of a third cat.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lance laughs so hard he snorts, Keith grows very stiff beneath him. It makes sense, of course he’d be nervous, this is a sensitive matter, their plans for the future have to line up if they’re gonna spend it together. And it’s not that Lance doesn’t want a third cat, of course he does, he was the one to bring it up and start begging for it months ago… but… well, that’s not all he wants.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you kidding? Once we have a house I’m gonna be begging you for more than cats.” Lance says then, picking himself up despite the exhausted ache to his bones. He props himself on Keith’s chest, peering down at him, grinning menacingly. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Kids</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Keith. I was serious when I told you I wanted at least five on our first date. You knew exactly what you were getting into here, you can’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>claim </span>
  </em>
  <span>I didn’t warn you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Against all odds, Keith actually</span>
  <em>
    <span> relaxes </span>
  </em>
  <span>beneath him, understanding dawning across his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know, I know. I’m not against it, I just want to make sure we’re ready. We shouldn’t rush into anything before we know we can handle it.” Keith says, for maybe the first time in his life. Lance understands why though, he knows why parenthood is such a daunting task in Keith’s mind, why it seems like some unjumpable hurdle. With his own rocky upbringing, bouncing from home to home, not even entirely sure who his parents were until he became a full grown adult and searched them out on his own… of course Keith is nervous. He doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that have shaped him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know, baby, one thing at a time. We’ll start with kitty number three.” Lance promises, grinning at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Keith, he gets this look about him that Lance can’t quite place. It isn’t the first time he’s seen it, Keith often looks at him like this. Like he just can’t believe Lance is real, like he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting to wake up from this daydream and come back down to reality. That level of love, of total and utter adoration, it’s more than Lance can handle most times.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This is one of those times, as he sheepishly averts his eyes. Luckily, Keith is quick to fill the silence, clearing his throat loudly and giving a humorless laugh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Though, I’m gonna be honest, we’re not gonna have any spare time to sit in rocking chairs on our front deck if we have five kids and three cats.” Keith says, as if Lance needs the warning. Lance grew up in a household of upwards of ten people, with different relatives coming and going all through the years. He knows a thing or two about a busy, full life. He knows how important it is to make memories together while you can, he knows that privacy and solitude become both blessings and curses when you’re so used to having neither, and he knows that he wouldn’t choose a quiet life over the hectic mess of parenthood ever. Keith will learn that too with time, Lance is sure of it. In the meantime, they’ll take baby steps, and Lance will do his best to teach him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Five kids, three cats, and a horse.” Lance corrects, tone light, playful now before Keith can start to spiral into an entirely different dark recess of his mind. It definitely works. Keith bolts upright beside him, onto his elbows, so he can give Lance a proper scrutinizing look. “What? I’ve always wanted a horse.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck off. Now you’re messing with me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Come on</span>
  </em>
  <span>, it’ll be good for those Texan roots, bring them out and let them shine.”  Lance pleads, wrapping his arms around one of Keith’s and hugging it close, leaning into his side to bat his eyelashes up at him. Keith doesn’t look impressed, so Lance milks it even further. “I’ll buy you a cowboy hat and some sexy boots, strap you into some assless chaps. I bet you’d look so hot, my rugged rancher husband.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re ridiculous.” Keith scoffs, but there’s no weight behind it at all. If anything, he seems strangely more flustered than before, like Lance’s antics are actually striking a chord within him. Or maybe he just likes hearing Lance refer to him as “husband”, which seems far more likely. Though Lance would absolutely jump on the opportunity to see Keith in assless chaps, so he’s filing that possibility away as a firm and definite “maybe”, for future reference.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After that, they lapse back into silence. They don’t fall asleep just yet, or they try not to. As much as neither one wants to admit it, they’re gonna have to change the sheets and Lance definitely needs to get cleaned up before all the slick cum drying between his legs becomes tacky and flakey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But they cling to their moment of peace for as long as possible, much like they cling to each other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At one point, Keith shifts against him, turning onto his side to curl up around Lance’s body in a protective hold. He wraps his arms around Lance from behind, pulling him in against the flat plane of his chest and spooning him, pressing kisses to the nape of his neck and his damp hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You wanna talk about it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not right now.” Lance answers, but his tone isn’t clipped to conceal his emotions, it’s open and honest and raw. He doesn’t care if Keith knows he’s hurting, it’ll be a while before they can move past what happened today. And they will talk about it, without a doubt, but Lance doesn’t want to chase this moment away so soon. He wants to linger here, in Keith’s arms, swathed in the feeling of love and safety and reassurance. He doesn’t want to dwell in the past right now, he wants to keep thinking about the future that’s waiting on them. “Right now I just wanna hold you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
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</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you very much for reading!! It's been a while since I've posted something this mushy and emotional, but it feels good to branch out a little. As always, please share your opinions in the comments below, I adore feedback and treasure every single one! </p>
<p>And if you're interested in updates on my work or ways to give input on what I should write next, you can always follow me on my social media below:</p>
<p>@melancholymango is my main twitter/tumblr<br/>@redgaysonly is my nsfw fandom twitter acc!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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